Anita Sinha

Practitioner-in-Residence, Immigrant Justice Clinic

Anita Sinha is on faculty at American University, Washington College of Law as a Practitioner-in-Residence in the Immigrant Justice Clinic. Professor Sinha is an experienced litigator and advocate for low-income communities of color in several areas. In the post-9/11 context, she represented indigent immigrant crime survivors, advocated for the rights of detainees, and led a successful legislative campaign to limit local immigration enforcement. Professor Sinha went on to conduct impact litigation and policy advocacy on behalf of immigrant workers, with a particular focus on securing undocumented workers protection under labor, employment, and anti-discrimination laws post Hoffman Plastic Compounds. She then returned to legal services by directing a deportation defense clinic in the East Bay, representing primarily noncitizens with criminal convictions.

In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, Professor Sinha conducted impact litigation and federal policy advocacy on behalf of both displaced survivors from and exploited immigrant reconstruction workers in New Orleans. She was lead counsel in Anderson v. Donovan, a class action lawsuit on behalf of displaced New Orleans public housing residents, during which time she argued two appeals before the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. Professor Sinha helped found the New Orleans Workers’ Center for Racial Justice, where she assisted staff and members in matters involving the exploitation and criminalization of reconstruction workers.

As a co-teacher in the WCL Immigrant Justice Clinic, Professor Sinha works with student attorneys on cases and policy projects in the areas of detention and deportation, civil rights, LGBT and gender, and workers’ rights. She has taught a seminar on advanced civil rights, with a focus on the rights of noncitizens, and will be teaching immigration law in the spring. Professor Sinha is a Huffington Post contributor, and her areas of writing and research include immigration detention and the prison industry, gender-related issues, and the intersection of civil rights and citizenship in the United States.